Universal safety light with EL element

ABSTRACT

A universal safety light includes a housing enclosing an electro-luminescent element and a transparent area for enabling viewing of the electro-luminescent element, the housing also enclosing a DC power source and all electrical circuit means required for supplying power from said DC power source to said electro-luminescent element, including an AC/DC inverter circuit and a switch for turning said electro-luminescent element on and off according to predetermined times and cycles, and an attachment device for attaching the universal safety light to a variety of objects.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the field of illumination, and in particularto a universal safety light in which illumination is provided by anelectro-luminescent (EL) lighting element, and which includes apartially transparent housing arrangement containing theelectro-luminescent lighting element and all necessary power supply andcontrol circuitry.

2. Discussion of Related Art

While electro-luminescent lighting arrangements have been proposed foruse in a variety of specific contexts relating to safety, includingillumination of footwear, headwear, backpacks, safety guides, movingobjects, and even flying objects, most of the previous proposals haveinvolved separate illumination and power supply/control arrangements.The present invention relates to a self-contained universal safety lightthat can be used in a variety of applications, and which represents animprovement over both conventional safety light arrangements of the typeutilizing LEDs and incandescent lights, and also over previouselectro-luminescent lighting arrangements.

The advantages of electro-luminescent lighting relative to incandescentlight are well-known, including both increased durability andflexibility. In addition, electro-luminescent lighting arrangements havea number of advantages over light emitting diode (LED) lightingarrangements, including color choice and brightness (the brightest LEDsare red, which can generally only be used for emergency lighting),increased viewing angle, flexibility, low power consumption, and theability to be printed with designs for an attractive daytime appearance.In addition, electro-luminescent lighting elements can be arranged toexhibit special effects such as flashing in a variety of patterns.

In addition, electro-luminescent lighting elements can now be arrangedas three-dimensional electro-luminescent fibers or tubes, often providedas "do-it-yourself" lighting kits, with changeable colors and a 360°viewing angle, the fibers or tubes changing color in response to asensor for controlling the voltage or frequency of the electricaltrigger current supplied to the electro-luminescent element for anexceptionally attractive lighting display.

Even though the improvement in visibility and attractiveness ofelectro-luminescent lights in comparison with ordinary LED warninglights, such as the ones described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,463,537 and5,371,662, and even the improved LED shoe module described in copendingU.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/517,502, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,088is immediately apparent, however, problems in implementation haveprevented widespread use of electro-luminescent lighting elements inmost applications.

Despite the advantages of electro-luminescent lighting elements,substitution of electro-luminescent lighting elements for LEDs is notsimply a matter of design choice, given the different electricalrequirements and structures of LEDs and electro-luminescent lightelements. From an electrical standpoint, for example, while LEDs canutilize either DC power or relatively low frequency pulses,electro-luminescent lighting arrangements require high frequency ACpower supplies. Converting the output of a DC power source to thefrequencies and voltages necessary to trigger an electro-luminescentlighting element involves either high labor cost traditional analogcircuitry, or relatively expensive integrated circuits, and it isdifficult to fit such circuitry into limited spaces such as might beavailable in the heel of a shoe, a bicycle warning light, or aflashlight.

Conventional electrical circuit arrangements for powering LEDs, such asdescribed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,175,528, 5,313,187, and 5,313,188, whichprovide a square wave output for maximizing the efficiency of LEDs, donot provide a practical means for powering an electro-luminescentlighting arrangement, and conventional circuitry specifically designedfor electro-luminescent lighting arrangements have tended to beexpensive and difficult to implement in contexts where cost and spaceare considerations, such as in a safety light of the type with which thepresent invention is concerned.

The basic approach of the present invention is therefore to provide asafety light in which LEDs are replaced by electro-luminescent lightingelements, which may be conventional electro-luminescent lightingelements or three-dimensional electro-luminescent fibers, but in whichthe electro-luminescent lighting elements are arranged in a novel andespecially efficient manner. The starting point is the LED lightingmodule described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/517,502, nowU.S. Pat. No. 5,599,088 which itself offers a number of improvementsover conventional flasher modules, including power supply arrangement,but which suffers from the limited color choice (basically, red) andnarrow viewing angle of traditional LED arrangements. Instead ofdirectly substituting electro-luminescent lighting elements, includingstrips, tubes, panels, and three-dimensional fibers for LEDs in thelighting module of the copending application, however, the presentinvention makes a number of modifications to the prior module in orderto make the substitution possible in a commercially viable manner, andwhich enables use in a wide variety of applications (which is why theinvention is referred to as a "universal" safety light).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is accordingly a first objective of the invention to provide a safetylight which utilizes electro-luminescent lighting elements such aselectro-luminescent strips or three-dimensional fibers instead of LEDs,and which is suitable for use in a wide variety of applications.

It is a second objective of the invention to provide a universal safetylight having increased color selection or and design flexibility,including the possible of changeable colors, providing both a variety ofillumination patterns and decorative non-illuminated effects.

It is a third objective of the invention to provide a universalelectro-luminescent safety light having an improved power supply circuitarrangement which can be assembled by simply connecting two electrodesof an electro-luminescent lighting element to a circuit, and yet whichcan be arranged in a variety of patterns and to exhibit a variety ofspecial effects, in two or three dimensions.

It is a fourth objective of the invention to provide a universalelectro-luminescent safety light having an improved power supply circuitarrangement utilizing a reduced number of simple electrical components,including a single transistor, two capacitors, three resistors, and asingle transformer, for forming an inverter system with a flashercapable of activating two or three dimensional electro-luminescentlighting arrangements and which has lower cost than LED lightingcircuitry with comparable functions.

It is a fifth objective of the invention to provide a universalelectro-luminescent safety light having an improved A/C inverter systemincluding an transformer or inductor designed to take up a minimalamount of space for use in a wide variety of applications, includingfootwear modules, with a size of only 42 mm length by 26 mm wide by 9.5mm in thickness (or 20 mm×20 mm×8 mm or 30 mm×20 mm×6 mm) when utilizingan inductor having a 2 mm diameter or a transformer having a 6 mmdiameter.

It is a sixth objective of the invention to provide a universalelectro-luminescent safety light in which all components including theelectro-luminescent lighting element, DC power source or generator,electrical circuitry, function interface device, switch, and all relatedcomponents fit within a single housing unit.

It is a seventh objective of the invention to provide a universal safetylight including attachment means for attaching the light to a widevariety of objects, including clips, extensions arranged to fit intocorresponding openings, or adapters for various brackets.

In its broadest form, these objectives of the invention are achieved byproviding a universal safety light includes a partially transparenthousing enclosing an electro-luminescent element and a transparent areafor enabling viewing of the electro-luminescent element, the housingalso enclosing a DC power source or generator and all electrical circuitmeans required for supplying power from said DC power source to saidelectro-luminescent element, including an AC/DC inverter circuit and aswitch for turning said electro-luminescent element on and off, and anattachment device for attaching the housing to a variety of objects.

More specifically, the objectives of the invention are achieved byproviding a housing having a transparent area arranged to provideoptical effects, i.e., to change the path of light emitted from theelectro-luminescent element in order to enhance visibility, a removabledevice to facilitate battery replacement, and a space inside the housingwhich accommodates all components including the electro-luminescentlighting element, DC power source, electrical circuitry, functioninterface device, switch, and all related components.

In the various preferred embodiments of the invention, the opticaleffects can advantageously be obtained by forming the transparentportion of the housing so as to include convex or concave surfaces, orsurfaces of different thicknesses, in order to provide reflective ortransmissive, diffraction effects, using a two-dimensional orthree-dimensional lighting element, and thereby simulate, for example, aneon tube.

In addition, further patterns and effects can be achieved by decoratingthe electro-luminescent element or the transparent area by stencil,masking, or silkscreening, or by arrangement of the electro-luminescentparticles, thereby providing messages when the electro-luminescentelement is turned off.

The switch of used in the various embodiments of the invention caninclude one or more mechanical or electric switches sensitive toconditions such as ambient light, vibrations, humidity, heat, sound,tilt, movement of a rolling ball, and so forth, while the power andcontrol circuitry can include a transformer or inductor with additionalparts such as a transistor, resistor, capacitor, and function interfacesuch as an IC to obtain one for more light performance effects such aschasing, flashing, steady on, random, fade-in/fade out, and so forth.

In one embodiment of the invention, the universal safety light is formedfrom two or more pieces, including a lower housing and an at leastpartially transparent cover, the lower housing having a special designso as to accommodate all electric parts and a special design foraffixing a wide variety of different attachment means to the housing,while in another embodiment of the invention the lower housing includesthe transparent portion and the cover supports battery contacts, and inyet another embodiment of the invention, the housing is formed fromthree parts, including upper and lower housing members and a separatetransparent cover.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a universal safety light constructed inaccordance with the principles of a first preferred embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 1-1 is a perspective view showing a variation of the universalsafety light of FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing details of a variation of theuniversal safety light of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing details of one of the basic circuitboards that could be used in the variation illustrated in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3-1 is a schematic circuit diagram of the circuit illustrated inFIG. 3.

FIG. 3-2 is a functional block diagram of the circuit illustrated inFIG. 3-1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a universal safety light constructed inaccordance with the principles of a second preferred embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an attachment means for use with theuniversal safety light of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing details of the attachment meansillustrated in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a further perspective view of the attachment means illustratedin FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a universal safety light constructed inaccordance with the principles of a third preferred embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 8-1 is a schematic circuit diagram of the circuit illustrated inFIG. 8.

FIG. 8-2 is a perspective view of a battery holder for use in theuniversal safety light illustrated in FIG. 8.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a universal safety light constructed inaccordance with the principles of a fourth preferred embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 9-1 is a perspective view showing details of the circuit board usedin the universal safety light of FIG. 9.

FIG. 9-2 is a perspective view of a cover for the universal safety lightillustrated in FIG. 9.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a universal safety light constructed inaccordance with the principles of a fifth preferred embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 10-1 is a perspective view showing a variation of the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 10.

FIG. 10-2 is a perspective view showing a further variation of theembodiment illustrated in FIG. 10.

FIG. 10-3 is a perspective view of a shoe incorporating the universalsafety light of FIGS. 10, 10-1, and 10-2.

FIG. 10-4 is a bottom view of the shoe illustrated in FIG. 10-3.

FIG. 11 is a schematic block diagram of a circuit for use in theembodiment of FIGS. 10 to 10-4.

FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram of the circuit illustrated in FIG.11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a first preferred embodiment of the inventionincludes a housing made up of a generally rectangular lower housing 1and a generally rectangular transparent cover 2. Enclosed within thelower housing 1 and cover 2 is a printed circuit board 3, on one side ofwhich is mounted an electro-luminescent element 4, which could be in theform of a panel 4, a flat strip, or a tube-shaped fiber 4', for example,and on the other side of which is mounted electrical power supply andcontrol circuitry including a transformer 5, switch 6, and additionalcomponents 7 to be described in more detail below.

The lower housing 1 includes battery contacts 8 for conventional drycell batteries 9 and means for mounting the circuit board 3 and meansfor connecting the battery contacts 8 to the electrical circuitry on thecircuit board. Also included in lower housing 1 is an opening 10 forenabling a user to access the switch 6 by pushing on a flexibletransparent cover 11 that extends through and seals the opening 10. Thetransparent cover 2 is mounted to the lower housing 1 and sealed by agasket 12 positioned at the interface between the transparent cover andthe lower housing. In addition, the embodiment of FIG. 1 includesattachment means in the form of a belt clip 17 for attaching theillustrated universal safety light to an object (not shown), which canbe integrally molded with the lower housing member or be in the form ofa discrete member secured to the lower housing member. By way ofexample, the attachment means could be attached to a bicycle's reflectorbracket by inserting a screw through opening 17".

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the cover 2 includes means for providingvarious optical designs to enhance the visibility and/or attractivenessof light emitted by the electro-luminescent panel 4, including atransparent portion shaped to provide convex lenses 13 and a concavelens 14, as well as a reflective portion 16. The optical design meansmay also include other means for optically varying light passing througha transparent material, such as diffraction gratings, a diffractiveportion having varying thicknesses, a focusing portion, or a partiallyreflective portion, or a translucent portion for diffusing light, andthe transparent material can be colored in any color or colorcombination.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, as well as in the otherembodiments of the invention, the housing and transparent area can beformed by injection molding, and the parts contained within the housingmay secured by means selected from the group consisting of screws,snaps, hooks, ultrasonic seals, hot melted seals, and solvents.

In a variation of the first embodiment of the invention, as illustratedin FIG. 1-1, the housing includes a generally circular, rather thanrectangular, lower housing 18 and a generally circular transparent cover19, and a circuit board 20 mounted in the lower housing 18 by a screw 21and location post 22 extending through respective openings 23 and 24 inthe circuit board. The circuit board 20 has mounted on one sideelectrical circuit components 25, including a switch 26 and batterycontacts 27, and is semi-circular in shape to leave space in the lowerhousing for battery holder slots 28, with button type batteries 29 beingsecured in slots 28 and electrically connected to each other by abracket/contact 30 secured by a screw 31.

As in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the lower housing 18 of the embodimentof FIG. 1-1 includes an opening 32 to permit access to switch 26 via aflexible switch cover 33 which extends through and seals the opening.Again, an electro-luminescent panel 34 is mounted on the opposite sideof the circuit board from the electrical circuit components 25 so as tobe visible through optical elements molded into the transparent cover19, including a convex lens 35 and a reflective portion 36, thetransparent cover 19 being affixed to the lower housing and optionallysealed by a circular gasket (not shown) at the interface between thelower housing and transparent cover. Also, as in the embodiment of FIG.1, an attachment means 17' in the form of a clip is secured to theoutside of the lower housing.

Turning to the embodiment of FIG. 2, in which the respective parts arenumbered identically to those illustrated in FIG. 1, the universalsafety light includes a lower housing 1 and at least partiallytransparent cover 2 corresponding to the housing 1 and cover 2illustrated in FIG. 1, and an electro-luminescent panel 4 electricallyconnected to the printed circuit board 3 by means of crimp terminals 37and wires extending through openings 38 in the circuit board, thecircuit board being mounted to the lower housing by partition walls 39which may, for example, engage slots (not shown) in the circuit bearingside of the circuit board 4, with the battery contacts 8 for batteries 9being affixed to walls 40 and the batteries being further located bywalls 41. Instead of a simple o-ring type gasket, the sealing gasket 12'of this embodiment is shaped to provide a better seal when the cover 2is secured to the lower housing 1.

As illustrated in greater detail in FIG. 3, the circuit board 4 housedwithin the universal safety light of FIG. 2 supports transformer 5 andswitch 6, while the additional circuit components 7 are in the form of atransistor 42, three capacitors 43 (only two of which are shown in FIG.3, and three resistors 44 (only two of which are shown), connected inthe manner illustrated in FIG. 3-1 to cause the electro-luminescentlight to flash or remain steady, thereby providing a function circuitcorresponding to element 45 in FIG. 3-2, with switch 6 corresponding tothe switch system 46, transistor 42 to the drive circuit 47, transformer5 to the voltage raising and frequency adjustment circuit 48 of FIG.3-2, and the illustrated batteries to power supplies 49.

The reason that FIG. 3-2 uses generic terms for the specific circuitcomponents illustrated in FIG. 3-1 is of course that the specificcircuit elements illustrated in FIG. 3-1 can be replaced by othercircuits which perform the functions represented in FIG. 3-2, forexample by including in the inverter circuit a function interface havingmeans for outputting pulses which enable the electro-luminescent elementto be turned on for various periods of time to provide special effectsselected from the group consisting of flashing, steady-on, chasing,random, and fade-in/fade-out effects.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that while a singlemanual switch is illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3-2, the switch used in thevarious embodiments of the invention can include not only a manualswitch, but also one or more mechanical or electric switches sensitiveto conditions such as ambient light, vibrations, humidity, heat, sound,tilt, movement of a rolling ball, and so forth.

In contrast to the two-piece housings of the universal safety light ofthe above-described embodiments, in the embodiment illustrated in FIG.4, the housing is constructed of both a lower housing 50 and an upperhousing 51, and completed by an optical lens member 52 on one side ofthe housing. The electro-luminescent panel 53 and circuit board 54including and electrical components 55 of this embodiment can be thesame as in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 3, except that the circuitboard and panel are oriented perpendicularly relative to the lower andupper housings, and the battery contacts 56 and 57 for batteries 58 aresituated on the side of the circuit board facing away from the opticallens member 52, which may again contain various optical designs forenhancing the visibility or attractiveness of light emitted by theelectro-luminescent panel. The optical lens member may be secured to thelower housing by a screw 59 or by any other convenient securing meansand the entire housing assembly may be sealed by a appropriate gaskets(not shown) if desired.

It is noted that the battery contacts in this embodiment include twosingle contacts 56 and one common contact 57 to provide a seriesconnection, although whether the batteries are connected in series orparallel depends solely on the electrical requirements of the circuit onthe circuit board.

By providing suitable attachment means 60, the universal safety lightillustrated in FIG. 4 may be mounted on, for example, a bicycle, asillustrated in FIGS. 5-7. In this example, the attachment means includesa flange 61 arranged to fit within slots formed in a cooperating adapter62 and held by a tab 63 on the adapter and opening 64 in the attachmentmeans, adapter 62 in turn being attached by a screw 65 to a post bracket66 for mounting on the handlebar stem or seat post 67 of the bicycleframe.

The embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8, like that of FIGS. 1 and 3,includes a two-piece housing made up of a lower housing 68 secured to anat least partially transparent cover 69 via a rubber gasket 70, thetransparent cover including optical designs, illustrated as being in theform of magnifying lenses 71, with the housing containing a circuitboard 72 on which is mounted a switch 73 accessible through a switchcover 74 extending through and sealing an opening 74' in the lowerhousing. The attachment means 75 of this embodiment includes a clip 76secured to the lower housing by a screw 77 and bolt 78.

Instead of the traditional analog circuit of the previous embodiments,however, the circuit board 72 shown in FIG. 8 includes an integratedcircuit 79 and inductor 80 as part of the power supply and controlcircuitry for electro-luminescent panel 81, and the batteries 82 are inthe form of button cell batteries positioned within a battery holder 83,with the transparent cover 69 secured to the lower housing 68 by hooks84 which enable the transparent cover to be removed in order to accessthe battery holder 83 and thereby enable removal and replacement of thebatteries, and the circuit board 72 being secured by posts 84' and hooks84".

As illustrated in FIGS. 8-1 and 8-2, the integrated circuit 79, which isa commercially available device, supplies output pulses at a desiredfrequency and timing to a transistor 85 connected to the inductor 80when the switch 73 is activated, with the only other required componentsbeing a capacitor 86 and resistor 87. The inclusion of the additionalcomponents depends of course on the requirements of the integratedcircuit chosen to supply the desired control pulses to transistor 85, asdoes details of the component mounting and connections to theelectro-luminescent panel, for example by using surface mounting of thecomponents and connection to the electro-luminescent panel by wires 88.

By using an improved A/C inverter system including an transformer orinductor designed to take up a minimal amount of space, the housing ofthe above embodiments can have a size of as small as 42 mm length by 26mm wide by 9.5 mm in thickness (or 20 mm×20 mm×8 mm or 30 mm×20 mm×6mm), utilizing a conventional inductor having a 2 mm diameter or atransformer having a 6 mm diameter.

The embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 9, 9-1, and 9-2 is similar to thatdisclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/383,405, filed Feb. 3,1995, and is especially suitable for use in applications where space islimited, with control being provided by an integrated circuit andinductor to form the DC/AC inverter (described in more detail below) soas to minimize the physical size of the circuit components. On the otherhand, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that atransformer could easily be substituted for the inductor to provide thesame function.

The universal safety light of this embodiment includes a main housing124 having a base 125 and walls 126-129, cover post receiving openings130-132, and battery isolation terminals 133 all integrally moldedtogether. The upper housing or cover 138, shown upside-down in FIG. 9-2,in turn includes a plurality of press-fit mounting posts 139-141 havingdiameters slightly larger than those of openings 130-132 to provide aremovable press-fit engagement between the cover and the main housingwhen posts 139-141 are inserted into openings 130-132, and a pair ofupper conductive terminals 142 and 143 fastened to the cover by mountingposts 144-147.

The preferred method of fastening the terminals is to stake them ontothe mounting posts by inserting the mounting posts through holes in theterminals and melting the ends of the posts to form an expanded sectionwhich serves to retain the terminals on the posts, although thoseskilled in the art will appreciate that numerous other terminal mountingmethods may be substituted. As illustrated, the terminals each havebattery contact engagement portions 148-151 extending at an angle fromthe cover so as to bias the batteries in place in the main housing andestablish a good electrical connection between both terminals of thebatteries and the corresponding terminals or contacts in the housing. Apreferred angle for the battery engagement portions is 45°.

The main housing 124 and cover 125 of this embodiment are generallyrectangular but transparent wall 129 is curved to provide a widerviewing angle and facilitate mounting in footwear. Main housing 124 alsoincludes a groove 154 formed between wall 129 and an internal wall 155for accommodating electro-luminescent strip 156.

Preferably, electro-luminescent strip 156 includes discreteelectro-luminescent particle sections 157 to save power and reduce costswhile providing expanded design possibilities. As illustrated, strip 156includes a central terminal connection to which connection wires 158 areaffixed by a pin-in/rivet arrangement, a pad, a crimp arrangement, clawterminals, or any other conventional electro-luminescent striptermination arrangement, for connection to a circuit board 160 which ispositioned between the internal wall 155 of the main housing 124 and thebattery isolating posts 133, with the batteries being positioned betweenthe battery isolating posts 133 and the rear and side walls 126-128 ofthe housing. Alternatively, a three-dimensional electro-luminescentfiber element could be used to provide a 360° viewing angle.

Included on the circuit board 160 are a motion sensing switch 161, acommon negative power terminal 163, and positive power terminals 164 and165. Preferably, the common negative power terminal 163 is connected toa pair of individual negative contacts 166 and 167, while the positivepower terminals are connected respectively connected to individualpositive contacts 168 and 169. Contacts 166-168 extend rearwardly fromthe circuit board 160 when the circuit board is positioned in the mainhousing such that the contacts extend under the batteries 170-173, whichare positioned over the contacts by the posts 133, the batteries beingbiased against contacts 166-168 by respective contact portions 148-151of the upper contacts, thus providing for easy installation andreplacement of the batteries with good electrical contact in anespecially compact structure.

As illustrated, one of the electro-luminescent panel connecting wires158 is connected to the common negative battery terminal 163 on circuitboard 160, and the other of the two wires 158 is connected to switch161. Switch 161 is in turn connected by traces to the positive terminals164 and 165 of the power supply and may be of the type illustrated inthe above-mentioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/383,405,including a coil spring contact 180, a coil spring contact mountingmember or bracket 181, and an outer contact member 182, the outercontact member 182 being illustratively semi-cylindrical in shape,although those skilled in the art will appreciate that the contact couldextend through any desired angle up to 360°.

FIGS. 10 and 10-1 illustrate an alternative version of the light moduleof FIGS. 9, 9-1, and 9-2. In this version, the circuit board is in theform of an L-shaped member 210, with one side having printed thereon apositive voltage trace 209 extending from a terminal 211 arranged toreceive a first battery contact 212, contact 212 being arranged tocontact the positive terminal of a battery and ending at the terminalpad of a switch corresponding to that shown in FIG. 9, the opposite sideof the switch being further connected by a positive trace to thepositive voltage lead 214 of an electro-luminescent panel 215.

In this version of the preferred embodiment, the negative lead 216 ofthe electro-luminescent panel 215 extends along the opposite side of thecircuit board to a negative contact terminal 217 arranged to receive anegative battery contact 218. Both the positive and negative batterycontacts 212 and 218 including battery engagement sections 219-221extending at an angle of, for example, 45° from the main section of thecontacts to provide a biasing force which ensures a good electricalconnection between the contacts and the battery terminals. Connection tothe circuit board member 210 is by means of tabs 222,223 on the contactswhich extend into the slots which form terminals 211,217.

The universal safety light of the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 10 and10-1 enables the batteries to be removed without touching the otherelectrical components, and includes a main housing 300 in which thecircuit board 210, LED 215, and batteries 301-304 are accommodated. Tothis end, the main housing 300 includes a main compartment having posts307 extending thereinto for supporting the circuit board, and posts 308for also supporting the circuit board, with the circuit board therebydividing the compartment 306 into a two sections with batteries 301 and302 on one side, the positions of the batteries being furtherestablished by curved portions 309 of the outer wall of the mainhousing. Optionally, posts 308 may also serve to receive press fit pinsextending from the cover, as will be explained below.

With the circuit board illustrated in FIG. 10 positioned in thecompartment 306 by means of posts 307 and 308, electro-luminescent panel215 fits into a groove 310 formed by an internal wall 311 and atransparent outer wall 311' which can be shaped to provide opticaleffects if desired. The contacts 212 extend through slots from one sideof the board with batteries 301 and 302 being placed on top of thecontacts 212.

As shown in FIG. 10, the main housing 300 can accommodate two differentpress-fit covers 315 and 315', the difference being that cover 315 ispress-fit by means of pins 316 and 317 to respective openings 319 and320 in the outer wall of the housing, and alternative cover 315' ispress-fit by means of pins 321 and 322 posts 308. Each of thealternative covers shares, however, upper battery contact 323, which ispreferably secured to the covers by mounting pins 325 staked to openings326 in the contact, with angled sections 327 of contact 323 beingarranged in the illustrated example to engage respective negative andpositive terminals of batteries 301 and 302.

The variation of the preferred embodiment of FIG. 10 illustrated in FIG.10-2 uses a cover made up of a protective member 351 permanently securedto the main housing 352 and a removable press-fit cap 353 havingopenings 354 through which the user can insert the tip of a pen or thelike in order to facilitate removal of the cap. In this embodiment, cap353 includes a press fit pin 355, while the battery compartment includesvarious molded-in posts 356 for positioning the circuit board,positioning and isolating the batteries from each other and the circuitboard, and cooperating with the press-fit pin 355. In addition, the mainhousing 352 of this variation also includes a compartment 357 foraccommodating the electro-luminescent panel 358, the compartmentincluding a transparent wall 359.

FIGS. 10-3 and 10-4 show an application of the universal safety lightillustrated in FIGS. 10, 10-1, and 10-2 to a shoe, and in particular tothe heel or outsole 414 of a shoe 410. In this Figure, the safety lightis designated by the reference numeral 412, a transparent area of thesole or outsole by reference numeral 422, the circuit board by referencenumeral 416, the batteries by reference numeral 418, and theelectro-luminescent light panel of the safety light by reference numeral420. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that safety light 412 ofthis embodiment could be used in a variety of footwear and otherapplications.

An alternative and especially simple electric circuit arrangement forthe footwear module illustrated in FIGS. 10-3 and 10-4 includes an DC/ACinverter circuit made up of a transistor 500 having a collectorelectrode connected to is the secondary winding of transformer 501 and abase electrode connected to the primary winding of the transformer, acapacitor 502, a capacitor 503, resistor 504, and vibration-sensitiveswitch 505. In order to simply this circuit even further, thetransformer could be eliminated, with the secondary winding of thetransformer being replaced by an inductor as in the circuit of FIG. 8-1,but without the need for an integrated circuit controller if switchingis to be carried out solely by the vibration sensitive switch.

Having thus described various preferred embodiments of the invention,with a number of different features, it should be appreciated that eachof the embodiments of the invention also shares several common features,set forth in the appended claims, that are intended to characterize theinvention. These common features include the use of a housing having atleast one transparent area for enabling viewing of anelectro-luminescent element situated within the housing, and yet whichalso provides space for all other electrical circuit elements requiredby the electro-luminescent element, thus providing a completelyself-contained universal safety light which can easily be adapted foruse in a wide variety of applications. Despite the common features,however, and the fact that a number of different embodiments of theinvention have been described in detail, it is anticipated that numerousfurther variations and modifications of the preferred embodiments willoccur to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope ofthe invention, and it is accordingly intended that the invention not belimited by the above description or accompanying drawings, but that itbe defined solely in accordance with the appended claims.

We claim:
 1. A universal safety light, comprising:a housing enclosing anelectro-luminescent element and a transparent area for enabling viewingof the electro-luminescent element, said housing also enclosing a DCpower source and all electrical circuit means required for supplyingpower from said DC power source to said electro-luminescent element,including an AC/DC inverter circuit and a switch for turning saidelectro-luminescent element on and off according to predetermined timesand cycles; and attachment means for attaching said housing to a varietyof objects, wherein said electro-luminescent element is positioned onone side of a circuit board and at least a portion of said electricalcircuit means are mounted on a second side of the circuit board.
 2. Auniversal safety light as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transparentarea comprises a transparent material.
 3. A universal safety light asclaimed in claim 2, wherein the transparent material forms an opticaldesign means for optically varying light passing through the transparentmaterial.
 4. A universal safety light as claimed in claim 1, wherein thetransparent material can be colored.
 5. A universal safety light asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the housing includes a lower housing memberand an at least partially transparent cover.
 6. A universal safety lightas claimed in claim 5, further comprising a gasket provided between thelower housing and the transparent cover for sealing the housing toprotect the electro-luminescent lighting element and electricalcomponents enclosed therein.
 7. A universal safety light as claimed inclaim 5, wherein said transparent cover is removable from the lowerhousing to permit access to the DC power source so that the DC powersource can be replaced by a user of the safety light.
 8. A universalsafety light as claimed in claim 1, wherein the housing includes a lowerhousing member, and upper housing member, and a separate front memberwhich forms said transparent area.
 9. A universal safety light asclaimed in claim 8, wherein said attachment means comprises means forattaching the housing to a post.
 10. A universal safety light,comprising:a housing enclosing an electro-luminescent element and atransparent area for enabling viewing of the electro-luminescentelement, said housing also enclosing a DC power source and allelectrical circuit means required for supplying power from said DC powersource to said electro-luminescent element, including an AC/DC invertercircuit and a switch for turning said electro-luminescent element on andoff according to predetermined times and cycles; and attachment meansfor attaching said housing to a variety of objects, wherein said housingcomprises a main housing and a cover, and said transparent areacomprises an external wall of the main housing, said external wall andan internal wall of the main housing forming a groove for supporting theelectro-luminescent element behind the transparent area.
 11. A universalsafety light as claimed in claim 1, wherein the electro-luminescentelement is a single member having discrete electro-luminescent particleareas and a common electrode.
 12. A universal safety light as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the inverter circuit includes a function interfacehaving means for outputting pulses which enabling theelectro-luminescent element to be turned on for various periods of timeto provide special effects selected from the group consisting offlashing, steady-on, chasing, random, and fade-in/fade-out effects. 13.A universal safety light as claimed in claim 1, wherein the A/C inverterincludes an element selected from the group consisting of a transformerand an inverter, said element being arranged to output to theelectro-luminescent pulses having a desired voltage and frequency.
 14. Auniversal safety light as claimed in claim 1, wherein the A/C inverterincludes an integrated circuit for controlling a transistor connected toa transformer or inductor for supplying power of a desired voltage andfrequency to the electro-luminescent element.
 15. A universal safetylight as claimed in claim 1, wherein the DC power source includes aplurality of batteries and the housing includes a battery holderarranged to facilitate removal of the batteries.
 16. A universal safetylight as claimed in claim 1, wherein the attachment means is molded withthe housing.
 17. A universal safety light as claimed in clam 1, whereinthe attachment means comprises a discrete member attached to thehousing.
 18. A universal safety light as claimed in claim 1, wherein thehousing and transparent area are formed by injection molding, and theparts contained within the housing are secured by means selected fromthe group consisting of screws, snaps, hooks, ultrasonic seals, hotmelted seals, and solvents.
 19. A universal safety light as claimed inclaim 1, where the electro-luminescent element is an element selectedfrom the group consisting of electro-luminescent panels, flatelectro-luminescent strips, three-dimensional electro-luminescent fiberarrangements, and three-dimensional electro-luminescent tubes.
 20. Auniversal safety light as claimed in claim 3, wherein said opticaldesign means is selected from the group consisting of a concave lens, aconvex lens, and an at least partially reflective member.
 21. Auniversal safety light as claimed in claim 1, wherein said housingincludes integral means for mounting at least one power source terminal,said power source being positioned between the power source terminal andthe circuit board.